The Sabbath Day at Home

In his April 2015 General Conference talk, “The Sabbath Is a Delight,” then Elder Russell M. Nelson invited us “to examine [our] feelings about, and [our] behavior on, the Sabbath day.”1

He counseled on how to seek inspiration to keep the Sabbath day holy and said, “I learned from the scriptures that my conduct and my attitude on the Sabbath constituted a sign between me and my Heavenly Father. With that understanding…when I had to make a decision whether or not an activity was appropriate for the Sabbath, I simply asked myself, ‘What sign do I want to give to God?’”2

Those words caused me and Sara, my wife, to consider what sign3 we were giving to God by the things we did on Sundays. We realized we didn’t need to make great changes, but felt we should start paying more attention to the little things. We already went to church every Sunday. We refrained from working on the Sabbath, playing sports, studying, or any other activity that would cause someone else to work on the Lord’s Day. So we sought inspiration to understand what steps we needed to take in order to follow this invitation by a living apostle.

One Sunday afternoon our children asked us to play one of their favorite board games. The purpose of this game was to answer correctly as many of the questions as possible. The questions were always too hard to answer for children, but the real reason why our children liked playing this game was the bright light and the loud noise of the big buzzers allotted to each player.

I was ready to tell them to choose a different activity, when Sara announced we were going to play the game the children had suggested but on two conditions: (1) she would be asking all the questions; (2) we would not be using the questions on the cards, but she would create four new categories and they would be all gospel centered. As we got everything ready, I wondered how Sara would manage coming up with so many gospel-related questions, knowing all the right answers and making sure each question matched the level of each child. On top of that she would have to do it all on the spot. I thought, this is going to be a disaster. As we started playing, however, it soon became apparent that the desire of a mother to let her children play and the desire of a daughter to obey her Heavenly Father’s commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy had given the Holy Ghost the chance to inspire a parent in finding a way to both sanctify the Lord’s Day and also make it a delight for her children.

I was then reminded of the words spoken by Nephi, “And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.”4 When the Lord asks something of us, whether directly or through our leaders, sometimes we think we can’t do it, but if we ask for inspiration and are willing to act, He will open a way right where we thought there was none.

Sunday is a day we look forward to. On this special day, we strengthen our relationship with God and with the Savior by going to church and partaking of the sacrament. On this special day, we strengthen our family by engaging in wholesome family activities that bring us closer together and to God. Spending time together on Sundays in ways that help us remember and honor God has helped us make this day truly a “delight.”5

[i]Russell M. Nelson, “The Sabbath Is a Delight,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2015.